Something crude and so painfully stimulating about the “Emptiness In Paradise” by Purbeck Temple that catches your ear already with the first note. This is the weight in the voice of Paul Gill; it is gravelly and soaring, pained but persistent, which makes one believe every single word the man is singing. It is not smooth studio production, it is […]
Rock/Review The Bar Pilots – Box of Bows
The Bar Pilots have something brilliantly nostalgic about their Box of Bows that instantly transports you to the hazy days of the 90s with the alternative rock, but with a sharper and more modern touch. The instrumentals are moody, immediate, which is power pop with actual muscle in it, reminding you of bands like Matchbox 20 or Sponge, but dusted […]
Pop-Rock/Review David DeSantis – The Light You Know
This is the contagiousness of the energy of David DeSantis in the opening of his song The Light You Know that grabs your attention at the very beginning. You can feel that guitar riff right at the beginning–catchy and self-assured–it echoes the vocals in the verse in this witty yet natural manner, which is both intentional and natural at the […]
Pop-Rock/Review Sean MacLeod – Romeo
The manner in which Sean MacLeod writes his songs is so wonderfully intimate, and this song, Romeo, is an excellent example of it. Based on his extensive musical background, those early days with the legendary Dublin-based Cisco, and his experience with the former producer of U2, Paul Barrett, MacLeod has made a song that is reassuring and at the same […]
Dark Pop/Review Tralalas – Burns
This is hypnotic about music that is not in a hurry and Danish dark-pop project TRALALAS knows that. The second single by Morten Alsinger, the songwriter of the upcoming debut album, is a three and a half minute meditation on how flexible emotions are, how loss and gain, friendship and love exist in a state of continuous, dynamic opposition. After […]
ROCK/Review Social Gravy – Fools
Some songs are time capsules. Other ones are warnings that continue to prove themselves true. The Fools by Social Gravy belongs to the latter category, initially written before a presidential election and later republished several years later due to the fact that, as the Los Angeles duo themselves says, the crooks are still around. It is an unattractive, harsh reality […]
ROCK/Review Bevin – You Don’t Decide
There is the protest songs and then there is the manifesto-in-music. The You Don’t Decide by Bevin squarely belongs to the second category, being a fearless statement of physical independence that does not demand permission or dilute its edges to make it popular with the general audience. It is all the American Gothic Rock that is unapologetic and mixes grit, […]
ROCK/Review Purbeck Templ – The Agoraphobia Files
There are those albums that are based on vanity. Others are lifelines. The Agoraphobia Files by Paul Gill under the pseudonym Purbeck Temple is unquestionably the latter, a thirteen-track testament in defense of patience that emerged out of trauma and was moulded by years of loneliness, recovery and unassailable resolution. The background is devastating: a severe assault that caused Gill […]
ROCK/Review Daph Veil – Bloodsucker
At some point in all the unhealthy relationships, there comes a time when the mask becomes unveiled and you are exposed to all inside the costume. Released under her Daph Veil project, Paula Laubach describes that moment in her piece, Bloodsucker, doesn’t simply describe it, but instead soundtracks the whole going through with such unpleasant precision. Beginning as a seductive, […]
ROCK/Review The House Flies – Sweet Foxhound
Music is magic, there is a certain type of restlessness and meditation that they have perfectly caught on The House Flies on Sweet Foxhound. It is not only the first single they have released since their popular Mannequin Deposit, but the shadows are darker and the lines even sharper. The song creates a somber mood at the very beginning, with […]
FOLK POP/Review Fiona Amaka – Honesty (Psalm 139)
It is somehow disarming when a bluesy rock artist and an exploration of betrayal turns into a spiritual vulnerability and makes it sound this natural. The first Christian song written by Fiona Amaka, Honesty (Psalm 139), is an accomplishment in itself in terms of its authenticity and accessibility, and that it reaches both the believers and the non-believers. The song […]
ROCK/Review Transgalactica – Joyce Of The Market
Few bands would dare to incorporate Irish economic history, word play, and progressive rock into one single song–but Transgalactica is not most bands. This father-son Krakow, Polish, duo has made something truly unique with Joyce of the Market, a song, both intellectually ambitious and musically fascinating. The very title of the song is a play on words, implying that Ireland […]
ROCK/Review The7thGatekeeper – You Are My Sunshine
It is disturbing to bring to light the darkness behind a song everybody knows well. The7thGatekeeper does just that with You Are My Sunshine by turning a lullaby into something nostalgic into something raw, uncomfortable and brutally honest. This version, which was recorded in what the artist refers to as the chaos room, does not want to play nice. The […]
Folk/Review Exzenya – Captivity
Some songs tell stories. Others drag you into them and you are left dazed and rattled. Captivity does the latter–and is not disposed to yield kindly. The song creates the mood of deep discomfort even at the very beginning. Exzenya reinvents a folk refrain of the old with a vocal richness that paralyses you–the lower range of her voice, the […]
FOLK ROCK/Review Albert Ahlf – The MAGA Song
It takes a certain sort of bravery to do political satire in the contemporary world–the bravery that combines acuity with real musicianship. Albert Ahlf strikes that balance with “The MAGA Song” which is simultaneously cabaret throwdown and folk-rock sermon. The very first chord of the piano tells you that you are in the hands of a serious time behind the […]
METAL/Review Brian Hunsaker– Power Over You
Even though it may seem like a lesson in itself, Brian Hunsaker’s Power Over You qualifies as a bold feat in the art of writing power ballads, and it does so by showing that an independent artist can indeed create a full-fledged cinema musical. After his famous debut Haunted, Hunsaker provides even something more spacious – a song that exists […]
ROCK/Review Anupam Shobhakar– Liquid Reality
Liquid Reality by Anupam Shobhakar is as revelational as it is classical and dystopian–a sound experience that is both archaic and cybernetic. The revelation that he had made to the interpretation of Indian classic music with fretless guitar, I was at once tempted to know how he would expand upon his already impressive palette. The answer is breathtaking. The album […]
ROCK/Review Tom Minor– Next Stop Brixton
There is a certain irresistible power in music that turns a mundane train ride into the epic tale of redemption and Tom Minor captures that power in his “Next Stop Brixton” with the energy and emotional depth that are altogether surprising. This songwriter/singer has created an upbeat indie rock song that is both jubilant and sorrowful, and takes all the […]
ROCK/Review Social Gravy– A Different Kind
Los Angeles duo Social Gravy are something special indeed, and the EP A Different Kind proves that, and shows why Brad Kohn and Vee Bordukov have deserved their reputation as romantic rockin-rollers with content. The four songs of this release portray their capability to walk the line between commercial and artistic integrity and making music that felt simultaneously accessible and […]
ROCK/Review Remit– Questions Unanswered
Melbourne trio Remit has produced something truly unnerving with their debut album Questions Unanswered and I mean that in the best way possible. This is not music that tries to soothe, it is art that wants you to face the uneasy truths of our divided world. The album was Written in their now-legendary underground concrete bunker and it is the […]
ROCK/Review Solum– Circles
The new single, Circles, is a strong exploration of the turbulent waters of the unhealthy relationship that demonstrates the further development of the UK artist. With the foundations of his midlands background and several years of genre exploration, Solum has created something truly powerful here, a track that is at once intensely personal and yet relatable to all. The bedroom […]